Penn
“Unless Victor recognized the voice,I can’t track who made the calls to him,” Toni reported.
Alex, Danny, Toni, and I were in Gideon’s office a few days after the engagement party, getting an update from Toni on the calls the governor was receiving.
“The person used burners. I feel like this was a wasted effort if they used untraceable phones.” Gideon sighed and lifted the unlit cigar to his nose and sniffed it.
“Want me to bring the governor here?” Danny asked.
Gideon shook his head. “Extend him a mandatory invitation to Tessa’s for seven tonight.”
“You got it, Boss.” Danny made his exit, and Gideon looked at Alex.
“I need you to talk to Solange Herbert. Victor is unpredictable and if he falls, she steps up. If she can’t beat this Benito Calvern, I’m going to have to entice him to work with me, and I’m not in the mood.”
“What should I tell her?”
“That she needs to call in favors to people she owes to make this election turn in her favor should Victor decide to be stupid and resign.”
“On it.” Alex left to do that, which left Toni.
“What do you want me to do now, Boss?”
“I need to know if Benito Calvern has enough clout to unseat all the people I’ve put in place. If he wins, he’ll either let me be and do as I always have, or he will challenge me, and we all know what that means.”
Toni nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out, sir.”
After it was just the two of us, I moved closer to him and pulled his chair out enough so I could stand between his legs.
“This guy has lived here for a decade. I feel if he was going to fight you on territory or anything, he’d have done so by now.” I took the cigar from his hand and dropped it on the desk. “All this worry could be for nothing.”
Gideon took my hand and my palm. “I can’t risk not checking everything out. I have too much to lose.”
“I know.”
He stood and when I went to move back, he pulled me to him and kissed me. His tongue plunged into my mouth and my entire body started coming alive.
“Mmm. Let’s lock the door and stay in here all day.” Gideon hummed as he licked down my neck.
I chuckled. “We can’t. Olivia has her piano lesson in twenty minutes, and we have to go meet the instructor.”
He grunted. “Didn’t we already meet her?”
“On the phone. And an extensive background check has been done, but do you want to leave your seven-year-old daughter alone with a stranger?”
With a sigh, he pulled away. “Armed guards would deter the instructor from anything stupid.”
“I’m sure Olivia would love to play ‘Hot Cross Buns’ with a bunch of guns pointed at her.”
“Fine,” he whined, and I laughed as I led him out of the office.
“It won’t be so bad.”
I was wrong—it was so, so bad. Jennifer Everton was either deaf or had the patience of a saint. Olivia was playing the same three notes over and over again, and it was grating. Gideon’s smile was tight each time Olivia looked at him and asked if she was good. He nodded but as soon as she turned around, he pressed the tips of his fingers to his temples.
“Is this almost over?” he whispered.
“Five minutes.”
